Sediment from retreating, land-terminating glaciers contains proportionally fewer micronutrients such as iron and manganese, reducing the glaciers’ value to microorganisms at the base of the food web.
plankton
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Algae Helped Some Life Outlast Extinction
Cooler waters near Norway’s north provided a refuge for phytoplankton during the Great Dying, a new study suggests.
Posted inNews
Marine Heat Waves Slow the Ocean’s Carbon Flow
When plankton find themselves in hot water, organic matters stalls at the surface and disrupts transport of carbon to the deep ocean.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Underwater Glacier-Guarding Walls Could Have Unintended Consequences
Although they would likely impede the warm currents that melt glaciers, such walls would also likely block fish migration and nutrient upwelling, harming marine ecosystems and Greenland fisheries.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysteriously Bright Waters near Antarctica Explained
Shiny-shelled diatoms make a remote part of the Southern Ocean appear especially reflective in satellite imagery.
Posted inNews
Iron Emissions Are Shifting a North Pacific Plankton Bloom
Some of the iron emitted by industrial activity in East Asia is carried by winds into the North Pacific, where it nourishes iron-hungry phytoplankton.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Where Do Antarctic Submarine Canyons Get Their Marine Life?
A new study investigates how much of the phytoplankton in the Palmer Deep submarine canyon is homemade and how much is delivered.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Kuroshio Intrusions into Luzon Strait Increase Chlorophyll
Using in-situ observational data, scientists reveal that Kuroshio intrusions through the Luzon Strait increase small phytoplankton in the South China Sea.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Seasonal Iron Cycle and Production in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean
Long-term monitoring at a site in the subantarctic region south of Australia combined with ship-based observations reveals three distinct phases between cycles of phytoplankton productivity and dissolved iron.